Francesco Condoluci Ninety-three percent of entrepreneurs consider women important and strategic to the company. But only 43% are willing to put them in charge of areas where key decisions are made . This is the paradox: women are recognized, but power remains more difficult to achieve.
Family-run SMEs and generational turnover: I-AER research
This is the clearest finding to emerge from the debate " Female Leadership: The Future of Italian Businesses ," organized in Milan at Workness House by I-AER – Institute of Applied Economic Research . This debate between research and businesses aims to understand what's really happening in family-run SMEs, just as one of the most delicate transitions approaches: generational changeover.
I-AER analyzed approximately 1.700 companies. Nearly seven out of ten will face a generational transition in the next five years, and in 81% of cases, the process has not yet been formalized. The issue, therefore, isn't theoretical. It concerns who will lead companies that represent a key part of the Italian production system.
Pope: "Women are important, but power is difficult to achieve."
Fabio Papa, scientific director of I-AER , starts with a statistic that clearly describes the terrain on which the game is being played: "Out of 100 companies, 98 are small and medium-sized and 83 are family-run ." And it is precisely in the family dimension, where skills and personal relationships often overlap, that female leadership encounters one of its main obstacles.
Pope Francis said it bluntly: “43% say: yes, it’s all very nice, these women are important, but let’s make them leaders of things where they can’t do too much damage.”
Gloria Gioia and Elisa Ioni: Stories of Leadership in SMEs
The issue emerges even more clearly when we move from numbers to stories. Gloria Gioia, sales manager at Tosvar , experiences firsthand the reality of a family-run SME . For her, " sharing means, above all, listening and learning." A phrase that captures the full meaning of her speech: bringing into the debate the daily experience of those who work in the business, understand its dynamics and responsibilities, and engage with the topic of leadership not as a theory, but as a practice.
Elisa Ioni, Chief Commercial Officer of Giuliano Tartufi , instead emphasized the delicate balance between what a family business must preserve and what must change: "In the future we must be aware of two fundamental things: finding the balance between tradition and innovation."
And when the topic becomes that of women who have to choose between professional growth and family life , Ioni is equally clear: «It is not right to give up motherhood and family to pursue a career , just as it is not right to give up one's career».
Female leadership and generational change: the test of the coming years
Then comes the point that makes the gap between recognition and power tangible . During the meeting, the case of a family business evaluating a €28 million investment was discussed . The nephew was brought to the table, not the woman in the family who had the skills and responsibilities. This is where the debate ceases to be a question of percentages. Being considered important doesn't necessarily mean being called upon to make decisions.
Generational succession will be the next test. Over the next five years, thousands of family businesses will have to choose who will lead them. It will also be a time to understand whether female leadership has become a real possibility or remains, too often, a mere wishful thinking.
Gender equality: less rhetoric, more concrete respect
The real challenge, then, is to stop being hypocritical. Enough with the grammatical battles , enough with the gender rhetoric , enough with turning every discussion about women into a dispute over words.
Women, in the workplace as in society, need something much simpler and much more difficult: respect. The kind of daily, concrete respect that isn't proclaimed but practiced. Respect for dignity, for the individual, for merit, for individual freedoms. Respect measured by the opportunities offered, the responsibilities entrusted, the decisions shared, the ability to be heard and judged for what one does.
Concessions aren't needed. Recognition is needed. Formulas aren't needed. Behaviors are needed. Because true equality isn't built by changing words, but by changing what happens when a woman enters the room where decisions are made. Everything else is just nonsense.